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Full-Text Articles in Behavior and Ethology
Quantitative Song Variety In Relation To Genotype In A Hybridizing Chickadee Population, Shelby Madison Palmer
Quantitative Song Variety In Relation To Genotype In A Hybridizing Chickadee Population, Shelby Madison Palmer
MSU Graduate Theses
The Black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) and Carolina chickadee (P. carolinensis) are North American songbird species that hybridize in a narrow contact zone stretching latitudinally from New Jersey to Kansas, USA. The association between genetic ancestry and song type in this hybrid zone has been studied independently several times and found to be minimal or absent, likely due to the influence of cultural transmission on learned song in the oscine passerine clade to which the chickadees belong. Despite this, the song of both species remains remarkably distinct in allopatry, suggesting a genetic constraint on certain qualities of …
The Major Histocompatibility Complex In Song Sparrows: Immunity, Signals, And Mate Choice, Joel W.G. Slade
The Major Histocompatibility Complex In Song Sparrows: Immunity, Signals, And Mate Choice, Joel W.G. Slade
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
In recent years, sexual selection theory has redefined genetic quality to consider not only additive genetic effects on fitness but also non-additive genetic effects, such as heterozygote advantage or disadvantage. In jawed vertebrates, the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) gene family has been shown to exhibit both additive and non-additive genetic effects on fitness. MHC gene products are involved in initiating adaptive immune responses, and MHC genotype determines the range of pathogens to which an individual can respond. Therefore, parasite-mediated selection at MHC may favour locally-adapted, rare, or particular combination of alleles. Because heterozygote advantage at MHC is widespread, sexual selection …